I’m breathless as Flash and I slow to a walk in front of The Art Of Java. “I can’t wait to see the company your parents started. The place that’s been stealing so much of your time from me.”

Though my tone is teasing, there’s truth in my words. Every time I’m with Flash, I lose another piece of myself somewhere inside of him. I’m not complaining, but the attachment is real and intense, and I can’t deny the fact that it’s helped me deal with the grief I’d been drowning in when I met him.

Now, I can remember my husband and my son without feeling like I can’t draw breath into my lungs.

We still run together most mornings, and I squeeze his hand to let him know we need to slow for our cooldown walk.

“I can’t wait to show it to you,” he murmurs, holding my hand tighter instead of letting me go. “I’ve been working there a lot, but that’s only because of the new rollout.”

I give his hand a squeeze. “That’s right. The new product. I can’t wait to see it.”

We walk into the studio and are immediately greeted by the smell of fresh-baked pastries assaults our senses. I groan with delight.

“B is going to kill me. God, now I need a scone.”

Flash chuckles beside me. “I could go for a scone.”

Brantley pops up from behind the counter. “Did someone say scone?”

She slides two warm pastries onto plates and sets them in front of us as we reach the counter. I grab mine and stuff a bite of chocolate-chip scone into my mouth. “Delicious, B. As always.”

My words come out muffled, and Brantley looks smug. “I see you and Flash have reached the ‘I-don’t-give-a-shit-about-manners’ stage in your relationship.”

I glance at Flash, who’s stuffing his face just like I am, and laugh. Little bits of scone fly out of my mouth and hit the counter. I clap a hand over my mouth and can’t control the laughter bubbling out. “Oh, my God. What is wrong with me?”

Brantley rolls her eyes, but there’s a smile dancing across her lips. “It’s called happiness, Ards. Go with it.”

My laughter comes to a stop and I glance down at the counter. Silence settles over us, and I know I’m messing everything up.

You’re allowed to be happy. You’re allowed to be happy.

Brantley sighs and turns around, picking up a coffee filter and changing out the machine. When I feel Flash’s finger underneath my chin, I glance up at him.

“Hey,” he says quietly. “Stay with me. I want to see your studio.”

I swallow, my eyes flicking toward the back of the shop where my studio lies dormant. “You do?”

He nods. “Yeah. Let me see it.”

My stomach tightens, but if he wants to see it… I take his hand and lead him to my pottery studio.

I flick on the light and hold my breath when we cross the threshold, aware of the fact that I haven’t been in this room since before everything. I’ve walked past it a dozen times since coming back to work, but I haven’t been able to bring myself in here. The place where I taught my little boy the art of making a matted lump of clay into something beautiful. The place where I spent hours making cups, vases, plates, and anything else under the sun that can be made with clay.

Once, it was my sanctuary. But now? Now I’m not sure what it is, other than a graveyard of memories.

After a moment of being frozen to the spot, Flash takes my hand and moves to stand in front of me. “Are you looking at me, Bunny?”

I nod, and then shake my head at my mistake. “Yes.”

“Good. There’s no pressure, but I want you to hear me out.” His face is serious, and that always makes me pay attention.

“Okay.”

He’s quiet a moment, his gaze locked on mine, before speaking. “This place? The place where you used to make beautiful things? This place is a part of you. Sculpting, making pottery…it holds a part of your soul. Just like running does. If you don’t allow yourself to have this again, to let art back into your world…there’s always going to be a part of yourself missing.”

My heart sinks, but only because he’s right. My voice scratches out of me in a whisper. “But something’s already missing.”

“Not missing.” His tone is gentle, but firm. “Remember?” He kisses his fingers and touches my chest. “Right here.”

I close my eyes and let the meaning of his words sink in. I don’t know how long we stand there like that, but when I feel my racing heartbeat settle and calm starts to ease into my limbs, I take his hand in mine.

“Do you want to make something with me?”

Flash’s mouth kicks up on one side. “I don’t know how.”

Leading him toward the stool I keep in front of the wheel, I sit and pull him down behind me. “I’ll show you.”

Flash wraps his arms around my waist and I sink back against him as I grab a lump of clay out of a container by my feet and place it on the wheel. Grabbing his hands, I guide them to run all over the clay, letting him test its firmness, feel how large it is.

“I’m using my foot to make the wheel move, and our masterpiece is going to start to take shape.” My heartbeat is racing again, but I’m not sure why.

Is it because I’m making pottery again? Or is it because of how close Flash is to me while I do this thing that I love so much? It’s most likely a combination of the two.

He’s silent as I guide his hands, helping him to turn the ball of clay into a tall and slender shape. “This is going to be a vase, I think.”

“And is it going to be sold in the shop?” Flash’s voice behind me is husky, low. I shiver at the sound.

I shake my head with no hesitation. “No, I think I’ll take this one home. This is a brand-new memory. One I want to keep.”

His only answer is the gentle brush of his lips against the skin of my neck.

* * *

We don’t stop until we hear Brantley hollering from the coffee shop. “We need to get a move on, bestie!”

“Oh, boy.” Flash’s voice is nothing but a mumble at my back as he leans in, kissing the nape of my neck. I try hard to hide the frustration creeping into my expression. We leave our vase beside the kiln and walk back out to the shop.

“What are you talking about?” I demand, walking until we meet Brantley at the other end of the counter. “What am I missing?”

Brantley rolls her eyes and glances at Flash. “He didn’t tell you?”

Throwing a suspicious glance toward Flash, I fold my arms across my chest. “Tell me what?”

Flash intervenes, smug amusement scrawled across his face. “That’s the whole point of a surprise, Brantley. The person being surprised doesn’t get to know about it.”

Brantley huffs an exasperated breath and looks pointedly at me. “Ards, your boyfriend here set up a spa day for the two of us to get ready for the launch party tonight.”

I whirl on Flash, walking over to him and winding my arms around his neck. “Seriously? For me and B?”

His head dips and he brushes his lips against mine. Just the lightest touch of his skin to my mouth makes an errant shiver crawl down my spine. “Brantley is Axel’s date.”

My head whips toward my best friend, who’s watching us with a satisfied little smile on her face. “What?”

Brantley shrugs. “Axel asked me to go with him. It was a last-minute thing.” Her casual tone tells me there’s so much more going on under the surface than she’s letting on, but I know I’ll get it out of her eventually. “Our appointment starts in thirty minutes.”

I turn back to Flash and, stretching up onto my toes, I take his mouth with mine, letting him know with my lips how grateful I am for this little surprise. When I pull away, the expression on his face is dark with the raw heat I know is simmering just below his skin. “Thank you. I’ll see you at my house tonight?”

“Absolutely,” he murmurs. “I’ll be here to get you around seven.”

“Can’t wait.”

* * *

“Bunny?”

Flash’s voice alerts me to his presence downstairs, and I put the finishing touches on my makeup before heading for the staircase.

We exchanged keys to each other’s houses weeks ago, knowing that we’d both be coming and going far more frequently, now that we’re together. I still find myself sitting in disbelief, staring out into space with a silly smile on my face when I think of what I’ve found with Flash.

Trenton was the love of my life, and I was certain we were only granted one of those. And even though we haven’t used that word to describe what we have, I can’t deny the feelings drawing themselves tight around a heart that was mangled.

The relationship developing between Flash and I is natural, without restraint. It crept up on me before I even realized what was happening, and once he was there…once he was the person in my life I turned to above all others? There was no going back. There’s a tether between us that grows more invincible with every step we take.

When I see him standing there at the bottom of the staircase, alone, my heart pelts my ribcage like it’s trying to escape my chest. And when I take in, absorb, how he looks and what he’s wearing, my blood turns molten and my breath catches in my throat.

He hears my small movements, something in his expression shifting as he looks up at me. I feel like I’ve been stripped standing on the top step, even know I know he can’t see me.

One side of his mouth lifts in the way only Flash can, as my heels kiss the steps, and I descend slowly toward him. With each step I take, the tension between us thickens, stretches, grows.

This man. He’s mouthwatering, in a black suit that’s tailored to fit his broad shoulders and chest, the lean cut of his hips, and the muscular length of his legs. He wears a crisp white shirt underneath, no tie. My eyes snag on his throat as he swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He’s wearing his usual dark sunglasses, but as I approach, he removes them, offering me the full view of those turbulent gray eyes.

I don’t stop until I’m standing right in front of him, and my voice is a little breathless when I speak. “You’re the most beautiful man on Earth. Do you know that?”

He sucks in a breath but doesn’t respond, instead reaching up to cup my face with his big, big hands. He allows his thumbs to trace the lines of my cheekbones, his favorite gesture, before sliding his hands down my neck and over my shoulders. The dress I’m wearing is form-fitting, a silver-sequined thing that clings to my slight curves before flaring out below my knees to puddle around my feet. The sleeves are long, but the neckline coasts just above my breasts, allowing a generous display of my cleavage. The dress swoops dramatically behind me, leaving my full back exposed.

Flash’s hands continue their journey, sliding down my arms before capturing my waist in a snug hold. I can’t take my eyes off his face as his full bottom lip catches between his teeth. His unseeing gaze is hungry, searching. His hands move around my backside, cupping me and pulling me against the hard length of his erection. I gasp, but he doesn’t pause, dropping to his haunches in front of me. He runs long fingers along the sides of my legs, a low rumble of approval the only sound he makes as he feels his way toward the stilettos I have on my feet. He spends time on those, feeling the length of the heel and fingering the soft leather at my toes.

“Color,” he rasps. “Tell me what color these are.”

His voice is so demanding I don’t even hesitate before answering. “They’re peacock blue. The sequins in my dress are silver, but when they catch the light, the dress appears multi-colored. The color that stood out to me the most was this one. So, I found shoes to match.”

He nods, his concentration not breaking as he slides his hands up the insides of my legs, stopping when he reaches my thighs. My dress hitches up with his movements, and I swallow a moan as his lips find their way to my flesh; hot, wet, and silky smooth against my skin.

God, I want him. I want him now. How does he do this to me?

“Flash,” I breathe.

He places another open-mouthed kiss on the opposite thigh before brushing a single finger against my quickly moistening center.

This time, I can’t hold back the groan as it rushes free from my lips.

He glances up at me. “You like that, Bunny?”

I nod, biting my lip, before I say, “Yes. God, yes.”

Still crouching, he palms my bottom with one hand and strokes his thumb against my clit with the other, a slow, torturous circle that has my legs trembling where I stand.

“I can feel you…” His voice carries an undercurrent of the lust that mirrors mine. “Wet for me. Jesus fucking Christ, Bunny. I’m not supposed to be late to this damn party, but all I want to do is take you upstairs and fuck you until you scream my name.”

His words fuel my need for him, igniting my skin and singeing my blood. “Please, Flash,” I whimper.

“Fuck.” With a growl, he pushes me until I’m leaning against the thick wooden banister at my back and he pulls my dress up and over his head. He nudges the fabric of my lace thong aside just before he flattens his tongue against my aching, throbbing clit.

“Flash...ah! Yes-yes-yes! Fucking hell, please…” My words are an incoherent jumble as he tastes me, making me squirm and thrust my hips into his face like a woman starved.

“That’s my girl.” His words rumble against me, and my head drops back against the hard surface behind me. “I know what you need.”

His tongue lavishes me, taunts me, brings me to the brink just before he drives two fingers inside. I cry out as the sensations rip me apart. I quake, trembling all over, my fingers threading into his hair and tugging as I crest over a wave and fall back to the sand.

Slowly, Flash stands while keeping one hand on my hip. I open my eyes, staring at him in amazement, marveling at the fact that he can make me come on command in just minutes, while I’m still fully dressed. This fire that emblazons the air between us is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, leaving me dizzy but fulfilled.

My cheeks heat and my body catches fire all over again, as Flash puts the two fingers that were just inside me into his mouth and sucks.

Pulling them out slow, a smirk ghosts across his capable mouth. “I told you…I have to use all of my senses to compensate for my vision loss. Taste is my favorite. And you, sweetheart? You taste like heaven.”

My eyes flutter shut for a moment as his other hand settles on my back. He goes utterly still. “Your skin…God. You don’t know what you do to me, but taking you out, dressed like this? I won’t make it through this night without needing to be inside you.”

I reach between us, stroking the evidence of his hunger. “Then don’t. Don’t make it through the night. Hell, Flash, we don’t even have to make it out of this house.”

He barks out an amused laugh. “Don’t tempt me, Bunny.” His face settles, going somber. “You look beautiful tonight.”

My heartbeat stutters before picking up its pace. When he says things to me like that, when he touches me, when he looks at me as if he can see me, even though I know he can’t…I want to hand every feeling I own over to him and trust him to keep them safe. “You don’t know that.”

He dips his head until it meets mine. In the space between us, he whispers, “When I feel you, I can see you. And all I see is a fucking vision.”

We stand like that a moment, sharing our breaths, before I notice that someone is missing. “Where’s Nitro?”

Flash tosses me a rueful smile. “I left him at home tonight. I have another guide.”

I swallow around the large lump that forms in my throat. I know what it took for Flash to leave Nitro at home. The two of them have grown so close, their bond so strong, that he must feel like a limb is missing. And the fact that he trusts me to guide him, will allow me to step into that role? I’m honored.

“I won’t let you go,” I whisper.

He drops a kiss on top of my head before starting for the front door. “I’m counting on it.”